The Valdosta, Georgia native and world renown singer was 73-years-old. The “boy from down in the boondocks,” Billy Joe Royal, died on Tuesday, October 6th at his home in Marietta, North Carolina. Royal is survived by his daughter, Savannah Royal mother, Mary Royal brother, Jack Royal stepsons, Trey and Joey Rivenbark and two grandchildren.One of the most revered and recognizable voices in American pop and country music has passed away. “It was the greatest place to grow up in the world. “Everybody knew everybody, and everybody liked everybody,” he said in the 2010 Journal-Constitution interview. He remembered his time there, before national fame, with fondness. In 2010, he announced he would end his last official tour with a concert in Marietta, not far from the school that once banned him. Royal went on to do well with country songs such as “I’ll Pin a Note on Your Pillow,” “Tell It Like It Is” and “Till I Can’t Take It Anymore.” The song had nothing to do with space travel, but given its title, radio stations stopped playing it. It looked like he might have a hit in 1986 with “Burned Like a Rocket.” But just as the song was gaining in popularity, the Challenger space shuttle tragedy occurred. Royal moved back to Georgia and eventually landed in Nashville, where he strove to revive his career. Royal recalled, “and Kenny was tearing the world up singing country music. “ Kenny Rogers lived down the street from me,” Mr. But he noticed that other singers who had pop hits had successfully switched genres. “I was going through hell, I was getting a divorce,” he told the Journal-Constitution. Royal moved to Los Angeles, but his brand of pop music was falling out of favor. Royal played Las Vegas, where he met and even hung out a bit with Presley. He graduated to bigger live shows, including tours produced by Dick Clark, and in 1970 Mr. Royal also found success with other songs in that era, including “Cherry Hill Park” and “Hush.” It was the highest he ever reached on the pop charts, but Mr.
With its repetitive “down in the boondocks” refrain that got stuck in listeners’ minds, the song reached No.
We cut it on a three-track machine - the most primitive thing in the world.” “I guess people related to poor people,” Mr. Most importantly to his career, he worked with songwriter and producer Joe South, who wrote “Down in the Boondocks” - a song about a pair of young lovers from opposite sides of the tracks. “For a kid, I can’t tell you how that felt.” “The second time he was there, he put his arm around me and said, ‘You just keep getting better and better.’ Royal said in the 2010 Journal-Constitution interview. King, Roy Orbison, the Drifters and, most memorably, Sam Cooke. He got to meet and sometimes perform with stars, including B.B. In the late 1950s, he developed his tenor voice and singing style at Atlanta clubs, sometimes doing five sets a night. “Billy Joe used to say, ‘One of these days, you will see my name in lights.’” “It was obvious to all of us that Billy Joe was the one with the talent,” Mickey Carlile, a member of the band, told the Journal-Constitution in 2006. Royal swiveled his hips so much during a school show that officials banned the Corvettes from playing at assemblies. I just wanted to be in music.”īy the time he was in high school in Marietta, Ga., he was singing with a rock band called the Corvettes. “And for some reason, I knew that’s what I wanted to do. “They had a radio show in Valdosta, and they let me sing,” he said in a 2010 interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Royal was exposed to country music at a young age, singing with his uncle’s band. Born in Valdosta, Ga., on April 3, 1942, Mr.
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